IME - Independent Medical Exams

[newankle]

Who has experience with IMEs (Independent Medical Exams)? I recently started doing them and some of my partners have done them a long time. How did you get into it? Did you do any of the SEAK programs or other? How much do you charge and how many do you do say per month or year?

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[PADPM]

I have never taken a SEAK course/program, though I used to do a fair amount of IME's. Somehow, my name became part of a database and the company contacted me directly. After performing a few, I received more and more since I was told they liked the thoroughness of my reports.

This particular company provided an "outline" of what they wanted in a report, which made the process very simple. I believe that I received about $300 per exam at the time.

The referrals stopped suddenly, and when I contacted the company, I was told that there were internal changes and they had their own internal network of doctors. So it's been quite a while since I've done one. In reality, it seems that the majority in my area are performed by non surgical orthopedists, who rely on these for the majority of their income.

 

[newankle]

Two my ortho partners charge $1000 and one charges $1500 per IME. The one who is busiest with these no longer operates (older surgeon) and does probably 12-15 per week. It's a good extra source of revenue. Also when they schedule the IME sometimes the patient doesn't show up and they still have to pay the $1000-$1500 fee which is remarkable. It's guaranteed money because is paid cash, no insurance issues. Our practice sees a good deal of worker's comp though so we also have the ability to do IMEs.
Today at our weekly meeting we approved the budget for the upcoming year and looked at data on insurances - how many patients of each we saw and what we got paid/what the yield was. We as a practice see 6% medicare and 6% medicaid but the yield was actually better on the medicaid patients than on the medicare patients. Many hate medicaid but for ortho-related things like surgery, fracture care, and DME they pay ok. For E/M codes they are terrible.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

Two my ortho partners charge $1000 and one charges $1500 per IME. The one who is busiest with these no longer operates (older surgeon) and does probably 12-15 per week. It's a good extra source of revenue. Also when they schedule the IME sometimes the patient doesn't show up and they still have to pay the $1000-$1500 fee which is remarkable. It's guaranteed money because is paid cash, no insurance issues. Our practice sees a good deal of worker's comp though so we also have the ability to do IMEs.
Today at our weekly meeting we approved the budget for the upcoming year and looked at data on insurances - how many patients of each we saw and what we got paid/what the yield was. We as a practice see 6% medicare and 6% medicaid but the yield was actually better on the medicaid patients than on the medicare patients. Many hate medicaid but for ortho-related things like surgery, fracture care, and DME they pay ok. For E/M codes they are terrible.

Am I reading this correctly? If you average the amount per week and the 1000-1500 range, and you multiply this by 52 weeks, you get $877,500 per year.... Is that even real?

 

[PADPM]

No, I received no where near that kind of number. I had tried billing more, but the company stated their standard fee was in the $300 range at the time, and I decided that the work was not very complicated and required no follow up, etc., and I could accept that amount at the time.

If your partner is performing between 12-15 weekly at an average of $1000-$1500 per pop, that's a LOT of money for not a lot of work. What incentive would anyone have to do anything else???

Do the math. If he did 12 weekly (your low number) at an average of $1250 per exam (right in the middle of the range you mentioned), 50 weeks a year, that would be $750,000 annually. That's quite an income base on only seeing 12 patients a week/600 annually.

If I had that opportunity, I'd jump on it as fast as possible.

 

[newankle]

No, I received no where near that kind of number. I had tried billing more, but the company stated their standard fee was in the $300 range at the time, and I decided that the work was not very complicated and required no follow up, etc., and I could accept that amount at the time.

If your partner is performing between 12-15 weekly at an average of $1000-$1500 per pop, that's a LOT of money for not a lot of work. What incentive would anyone have to do anything else???

Do the math. If he did 12 weekly (your low number) at an average of $1250 per exam (right in the middle of the range you mentioned), 50 weeks a year, that would be $750,000 annually. That's quite an income base on only seeing 12 patients a week/600 annually.

If I had that opportunity, I'd jump on it as fast as possible.

He no longer operates and is well-known/respected. He is older and travels/vacations probably 3 months out of the year and works 4 days a week, no call. He probably made around $400-450K on IME last year and collected around $900K total. He took home in the neighborhood of $500K. FYI there are practitioners in a major metro area nearby that only do IME and make much more. I charge $500 per IME and average one per week but will start doing more soon. When you start your rate is lower and as you get a better reputation and if they like your work your rate increases.

 

[G0dFather]

Thanks for sharing this new ankle !!

 

[Meyer-Overton]

bump

 

[heybrother]

I received an email offering the following:

I knew a guy through some people who told me there was still room to negotiate on that, but I didn't follow-up as I had too much going on. No idea what it includes. No idea how difficult it is.

 

[HardRoadPaved]

What if you have unexpected note shrinkage?

 

[Hybrocure]

Wtf is this

 

[Feli]

Lol... this sounds like one of my associate jobs:

Moustache owner: "Hey, you do rearfoot and injury surgery! If you want, we could make some money reviewing records for car accidents and stuff. It's easy work. I have this friend who's an attorney... you may have heard of [goofball big name attorney firm in Detroit with billboards and ads all over]."

Me: "Neeeeeh."

Wtf is this

Yes, yes.... that sums up my conclusion perfectly also.